Gustav Kobbé (March 4, 1857Lewis Randolph Hamersly, ''et al.'
''Who's who in New York (city and State)''
New York: L.R. Hamersly, 1904. p. 353. – July 27, 1918)
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. July 28, 1918. p. 1. Accessed January 30, 2008. was an American music critic and author, best known for his guide to the operas, '' The Complete Opera Book'', first published (posthumously) in the United States in 1919 and the

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in 1922.

Life and career

Kobbé was born in March 1857 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, to William August Kobbé and Sarah Lord Sistare Kobbé. His father was born in

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsch ...

, near

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, in the

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German language, German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what became the Germany, German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a States of the Confederation of th ...

(now part of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

), and represented that country in New York as consul general until it was absorbed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in 1866. His mother was born in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

, to a prominent

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

family. When Gustav Kobbé was ten years old, he was sent to Wiesbaden to study composition and the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

with Adolf Hagen. Following five years of study in Germany, he returned to

for additional study under Joseph Mosenthal. Afterward, he graduated from Columbia College in 1877 and two years later from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

. He received his M.A. from Columbia in 1880. In 1882, he married Carolyn Wheeler. He made his career in literary and newspaper work, and contributed articles on musical and dramatic subjects to the leading magazines and periodicals. His hobby was sailing, and it was while he was out in the

Great South Bay The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about long and has an average depth of and is at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island ...

off Bay Shore,

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, in July 1918, that a

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

, coming down for a landing, struck his boat and killed him instantly.

Literary work

Kobbé began his literary career as co-editor of the ''Musical Review''. He was on the staff of the New York ''Sun'' in 1881, and in 1882 was sent as correspondent to

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

by the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 to 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers as a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publisher Jo ...

'' for the first performance of ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...

''. He contributed many articles - on music, drama and travel - to the leading American magazines of his day - ''

The Century Magazine ''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associati ...

'', ''

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'', '' The Forum'', ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (''NAR'') was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale (journalist), Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which i ...

'', ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th centur ...

'', ''

The Delineator ''The Delineator'' was an American women's magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company in 1869 under the name ''The Metropolitan Monthly.'' Its name was changed in 1875. The magazine was publi ...

'', etc. He became music critic of the New York ''Herald'' when that newspaper was owned by James Gordon Bennett, remaining with it for eighteen years. He was on the point of completing the book which was afterwards published as '' The Complete Opera Book'' when he died. Various additions were made to it before publication, and the work in its original form was edited by Katharine Wright, who at the same time included some additional operas in sections that bear her initials. Its full title was ''The Complete Opera Book : the Stories of the Operas, Together with 400 of the Leading Airs and Motives in Musical Notation''.

Notable works

* ''The Ring of the Nibelung'' (1887) reprinted in ''Wagner's Life and works'' * ''Wagner's Life and works'' (two volumes, 1890) * ''New York and its Environs'' (1891) * ''The New Jersey Coast and Pines: An Illustrated Guide-book (with Road-maps)'' (1891) * ''Plays for Amateurs'' (1892) * ''My Rosary, and Other Poems'' (1896) * ''Miriam'' (1898) * ''Signora, a Child of the Opera House'', a novel (1902) * ''Famous Actors & Actresses And Their Homes'' (1903) * ''Wagner's Music-Dramas Analyzed'' (1904), with which were combined his other later Wagner works * ''The Loves of Great Composers'' (1905) * ''Wagner and His Isolde'' (1905) * ''Opera Singers'' (1905, sixth edition revised, 1913) * ''Famous American Songs'' (1906) * ''How to Appreciate Music'' (New York: Moffat, Yard & Company, 1906) * ''The Pianolist'' (1907) * ''Portrait Gallery of Great Composers'' (1911) * ''A Tribute to the Dog-Including the Famous Tribute by Senator Vest'' (1910 & 1911) * ''Modern Women'' (1916) * '' The Complete Opera Book'' (1919 & 1922), continued for several editions by the

Earl of Harewood Earl of Harewood (), in the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created in 1812 for Edward Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood, a wealthy sugar plantation owner and former Member of Parliament fo ...

He was editor of the '' Lotus Magazine'' from 1909 to 1918.

Family

Gustav's brother, Major General William August Kobbé (1840–1931), served with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and became famous during the war on the Philippines. His grandson,

Francis Thorne Francis Thorne (June 23, 1922 – March 7, 2017) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and grandson of the writer Gustav Kobbé. Life Francis Burritt Thorne, Jr. was born in Bay Shore, New York. His father was a ragtime piani ...

, is a well known

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. Through his daughter, Virginia, Kobbé is the great-great-grandfather of actor Justin Theroux.Hollins-Kobbe Wedding on Nov. 18
''

''. October 23, 1909. Visited April 9, 2012.

Notes

References

*G. Kobbé, ''The Complete Opera Book'' (Putnam and Sons, New York 1919, London 1922). *The Earl of Harewood (Ed.), ''Kobbé's Complete Opera Book'' (Putnam, London and New York 1954). *

External links

* * *
''The Complete Opera Book''
text at Bob's Opera World * text at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobbe, Gustav 1857 births 1918 deaths American music critics American music journalists Opera critics Columbia Law School alumni American essayists Accidental deaths in New York (state) Boating accident deaths Journalists from New York City Columbia College (New York) alumni